Run, Man, Run / Corri uomo corri (Sergio Sollima, 1968)

[scherpschutter]

@stanton

Sollima was a very capable director, but I can’t find no brillance in his films. And his character development, a rare thing in SW, which generally are interested in using character stereotypes, is interesting, but also not too complex.

As far as Sollima is concerned, I agree with Phil, only I don’t think character development is essential to his movies. Character development asks for a more epic approach to the narrative; westerns in general, and SW in particular, usually have a more dramatic approach.
In epic stories characters evolve in time gradually (Tolstoy’s War and Peace is probably the best example); in dramatic novels the protagonists are affected by an eventful, pivotal situation; usually their response to the situation is quite shocking, even to themselves (Dostojevski’s Crime and Punishment may serve as a reference). They don’t really evolve, but discover, in a rather abrupt way, their genuine nature that was surpressed by one reason or another.

In ‘Faccia a faccia’ Volonté discovers his surpressed violent instincts when he’s confronted with Milian’s banditry and it’s Milian who starts to reflect on his own way of life when confronted with Volonté’s reaction to it.

In La Resa dei Conti, Van Cleefs discovers that he has been acting all the time as a marionet of the powers that be and that the man he is chasing, the alleged criminal Milian, probably has higher moral standards the people who are paying him; in other terms, both the western stereotype of the law-upholding gunman and the law he is upholding are ‘deconstructed’.

As for Corbucci, I have five of his films in my Top 20, so it’s clear that I adore him. He certainly was a very inventive director, but not a disciplined one and very often, even in his best films, he was rather careless. At his best, he was brilliant, but very often, he simply wasn’t at his best.
Even his undisputed masterpiece, The Great Silence, counts several under-directed sequences, and The Mercenary is (I’m exaggerating a little) a series of brilliant and mediocre scenes thrown together in a narrative that, for most part, doesn’t make much sense.

I was a bit surprised by your praise for Collizi.
Could you elaborate your ideas on Collizi a little? I never thought of him as one of the great SW directors and I’m very curious what you see in him.

[stanton]

@Phil H

Aah… that’s good. Now we are brothers again amigo

Fine!

@Phil H

That is a fair point, but I was comparing him with Leone and other SW directors. I think in that context his use of character development was outstanding. at the very top in the genre. However, I agree, compared with some of the great directors you have named from outside the genre his work has less depth. I guess the key point for me is that he managed to include some interesting pyschological, political and social elements into his films whilst still turning out a cracking action film. And not many directors can say that.

Yes, yes, That’s true.
But Leone had also developed some interesting and complex characters with Tuco and Cheyenne and contrasted them effectively with the underplaying of Eastwood and Bronson. Even Fonda’s Frank becomes a tragic figur in his failure.

@Phil H

On the contrary amigo. Your english is excellent and you got your meaning across clearly. Thanks for the discussion.

I’m not worrying about making some minor grammatical mistakes, if everyone gets the meaning (well and if it doesn’t sound too stupid). But it’s hard work for me to deliver a longer text, because I’m always a bit unsure about the grammar. The greater problem is to find the fitting words to express my feelings exactly.
On the other hand this is sometimes tricky even in your native language.

[stanton]

@scherpschutter

As far as Sollima is concerned, I agree with Phil, only I don’t think character development is essential to his movies. Character development asks for a more epic approach to the narrative; westerns in general, and SW in particular, usually have a more dramatic approach. In epic stories characters evolve in time gradually (Tolstoy’s War and Peace is probably the best example); in dramatic novels the protagonists are affected by an eventful, pivotal situation; usually their response to the situation is quite shocking, even to themselves (Dostojevski’s Crime and Punishment may serve as a reference). They don’t really evolve, but discover, in a rather abrupt way, their genuine nature that was surpressed by one reason or another.

Yes SWs are naturally anti-epics.

@scherpschutter

In ‘Faccia a faccia’ Volonté discovers his surpressed violent instincts when he’s confronted with Milian’s banditry and it’s Milian who starts to reflect on his own way of life when confronted with Volonté’s reaction to it.

I see this in a similar way, but nervertheless I always thought that Milian’s change was not so convincing.
And I don’t like these mirrorsymmetry things, so it would be imo more intelligent if Milian had stayed to his original nature.

@scherpschutter

In La Resa dei Conti, Van Cleefs discovers that he has been acting all the time as a marionet of the powers that be and that the man he is chasing, the alleged criminal Milian, probably has higher moral standards the people who are paying him; in other terms, both the western stereotype of the law-upholding gunman and the law he is upholding are ‘deconstructed’.

In Franco Solinas’ original story the solution was even more complex. The lawman sees through the scheme, but he still kills his prey, doing what he was asked for, doing what he was paid for.

@scherpschutter

As for Corbucci, I have five of his films in my Top 20, so it’s clear that I adore him. He certainly was a very inventive director, but not a disciplined one and very often, even in his best films, he was rather careless. At his best, he was brilliant, but very often, he simply wasn’t at his best. Even his undisputed masterpiece, The Great Silence, counts several under-directed sequences, and The Mercenary is (I’m exaggerating a little) a series of brilliant and mediocre scenes thrown together in a narrative that, for most part, doesn’t make much sense.

Now, that’s something I’m very interested in. To avoid confusion let’s talk about this in the The Mercenary thread.

@scherpschutter

I was a bit surprised by your praise for Collizi. Could you elaborate your ideas on Collizi a little? I never thought of him as one of the great SW directors and I’m very curious what you see in him.

I’ll come to this point later, maybe in a soon to start Collizi thread.

[scherpschutter]

@stanton , I already posted a text on IL MERCENARIO in the approriate thread.

It’s a long text, so take a deep breath.

[stanton]

He, he and I have answered it at nearly the same time, without reading yours. It seems that you are a quicker on the draw than I.

[Bill_san_Antonio]

@stanton

In Franco Solinas’ original story the solution was even more complex. The lawman sees through the scheme, but he still kills his prey, doing what he was asked for, doing what he was paid for.

This is how it basically goes in Revolver which could be described as a re-make of Big Gundown in modern times. In Revolver Sollima made his best character developments.

[Hud]

For me, RUN MAN RUN was THE western that made me realize there are some truly high-quality spaghetti westerns out there NOT directed by Sergio Leone (who we all love) but somehow in the same ballpark. This was 15 years ago and I saw a severely cut version missing many key scenes. I was yet to discover Sollima’s other westerns and thrillers, most of which to my surprise were even better. Putting it in a more universal film history context, I believe there would be no COMPANEROS without RUN MAN RUN. Even if most of us agree that this is the least of Sollima’s “trilogy”, there’s so much “Golden Age” stuff to cherish, beginning with the wonderful opening credits. I love the Kochmedia Box but the Anglo audio just sounds louder & better…

[Phil_H]

@Hud

For me, RUN MAN RUN was THE western that made me realize there are some truly high-quality spaghetti westerns out there NOT directed by Sergio Leone (who we all love) but somehow in the same ballpark. This was 15 years ago and I saw a severely cut version missing many key scenes. I was yet to discover Sollima’s other westerns and thrillers, most of which to my surprise were even better. Putting it in a more universal film history context, I believe there would be no COMPANEROS without RUN MAN RUN. Even if most of us agree that this is the least of Sollima’s “trilogy”, there’s so much “Golden Age” stuff to cherish, beginning with the wonderful opening credits. I love the Kochmedia Box but the Anglo audio just sounds louder & better…

Welcome to the Forum amigo. It’s always good to have another Sollima fan on board.

[LooneyElmerFudd (Wilco Vedder)]

Well, it’s an old but interesting thread.
A few months ago I bought some blue underground DVD’s with some movies I had never seen before. I know, it’s a shame for being in love with Spaghetti movies over 20 years without ever seeing this beatiful film.
I agree to a lot of things mentioned in this thread. From the three Sollima western this is the lesser movie, but still a good movie and fun to watch.
There are some flaws of course. The salvation army was started in 1878, and I do not think there was an army post abailable during the period the movie plays. Especially as Mexico was expanded by the army after 1915.
The motives of Donals O’Briens character remain unclear. He has some personel interest that are not mentioned during the movie.
The Linda Veras character betrays her beloved Cuchillo too much to make it believable she loves him so much.

But overall it was a nice movie to watch with spectacular images and again a beatiful score of Morricone (but credited by Nicolai)

[stanton]

@LooneyElmerFudd

But overall it was a nice movie to watch with spectacular images and again a beatiful score of Morricone (but credited by Nicolai)

Are you sure?

It sounds indeed very much like Morricone, but most of Nicolai’s scores are also very close to Morricone.
So close that it was assumed by many that Bruno Nicolai was only another Morricone pseudonym.

[AvatarDK]

@stanton

Are you sure? It sounds indeed very much like Morricone, but most of Nicolai’s scores are also very close to Morricone. So close that it was assumed by many that Bruno Nicolai was only another Morricone pseudonym.

I heard the same in an interview on one of the discs (probably from the BU Run Man Run-disc) that Nicolai was given credit due to contractual reasons as far as I remember. Don’t remember who said it though but someone in here will.

Ed.: Can see it says the same on the official entry for the movie in the DB: Corri, uomo, corri - The Spaghetti Western Database

[Phil_H]

Pretty sure it was Sollima who said it in an interview on the BU disc. (But I could be wrong)

[stanton]

Btw, what’s the exact running time of the BU DVD?

[Tigrero (Mark Hicks)]

@stanton

Btw, what’s the exact running time of the BU DVD?

Over a month later…on the box 121 mins. On my Mac…a bit short of 120 mins but the title music carries on over a black screen for about 40 secs…so 120 1/2 mins.

[ChrisCasey]

About the Nicolai/Morricone debate…

Yes, Sergio Sollima—in an interview on the Blue Underground DVD for RUN MAN RUN–says that Morricone did the score for the film.

BUT—he also has said, in an interview with my friend Mario Marsili, that it was Nicolai who did the score! That interview was done before the Blue Underground disc interview.

So…who knows?

Personally, it sounds much more like Nicolai to me than it does Morricone. Listen carefully to the other scores Morricone turned in for Sollima’s previous films, THE BIG GUNDOWN and FACE TO FACE. His scores for those films are filled with innovative, unusual instrumentation and arrangements.

The score for RUN MAN RUN is great, but it is pretty much typically arranged and orchestrated. It is also extremely similar in execution to Nicolai’s score for ANDA MUCHACHO SPARA—so, my vote is for Nicolai. I don’t think Morricone would have turned in such an uninterestingly arranged score for Sollima’s third film. I think if Morricone would have done the score he would have built upon the rhythmic ideas and unique arrangement standards he set for the previous two films (as he did with each successive Leone film and Corbucci film, and so on). I seriously do not think he would have “backed off” for this particular score.

My own conclusion, of course. But, that is all we can do…draw our own conclusions; because, Sollima has said different things at different times.

I have a theory about why Sollima claimed Morricone was the composer during the interview for RUN MAN RUN; but, it is only a theory and doesn’t show the master, Sollima, in a very good light. So, I will refrain from expounding my theory. Let me just say that I am sure he had his reasons…

[bobm]

Nicolai is one of my favorite composers and I also think this is his score. It’s not outstanding and works for the film. Not memorable, though. Nicolai goes into this repeating himself, hack modality sometimes.

[Bill_san_Antonio]

@Chris_Casey

BUT—he also has said, in an interview with my friend Mario Marsili, that it was Nicolai who did the score! That interview was done before the Blue Underground disc interview.

Yes, but maybe he felt at that time he needed to respect the contract. In recent years he has stated it was Morricone who did it. Long time is already passed and maybe he thinks it’s time to reveal the truth.
IF it really is truth. I agree that it sounds more like Nicolai but maybe we should ask Morricone himself to know for sure.

[Goodfella]

This was a two star film for me. There’s nothing horrible about it but there nothing special about it either.

I have to admit going in it had a few things against it already, like the fact that I dont care for the political angle nor do I really dig westerns revolving around Mexico and/or Mexican bandits, heros, outlaws, etc. simply because they dont feel like westerns at all most of the time.

My idea of a spaghetti is a gunslinger(not a knife slinger) of some type riding into an American frontier town and teaching someone a leason for one reason or another. Plus with Spaghettis it help to keep things simple, when they try for complex plots it usually results in a mess. Sure some work but for the most part the best revolve around a simple drifter and/or revenge plot.

Also at the very least I expect entertainment from a Spaghetti and this film was actually very dull. Nothing happens. Its just Millian trying to act funny for two hours with a few Spaghetti aspects thrown in once in a while.

Sollima’s other films sounded a hell of a lot more interesting from the begining in my book but this is the only one readily avalible for some odd reaon.

The last political(or at least obviously political) Spaghetti Im going to watch any time soon is A Bullet For The General simply so I can have seen it. Then Im going to dig into the less popular flicks which actually sound more fun than most of the “top 20” films.

[korano]

I was a little let down by this one. Way too disjoined and uneven. Too episodic and the plot suffers because of it. Was surprised by the use of squibs. Very early use of them.

[Lasky]

I gave it 5 stars.

I think its Sollima’s most epic western,very episodic and the nearsest he got to THE GOOD,THE BAD,AND THE UGLY with 3 different parties going after hidden gold.Its just a shame that Donal O’Brien played Cassidy instead of LVC.